My eyes slowly opened as the sun peeked through the blinds as if to wake me up. “Your son has been born,” was whispered to my soul.
What? What does that mean? I asked. Then my soul instantly knew. God had placed it on my heart to adopt a son in years past, but that thought was buried by life’s demands and the busyness that four children and homeschooling brought. But at that moment, as God whispered to my soul, I knew it was time.
But where to begin? I prayed and asked God to reveal where our son was and after interviewing different adoption agencies, we settled on one and said we were open to foreign adoption. Then Ukraine was placed on my heart but was not open for adoption. But Russia was. There were five signs that confirmed in my heart that we were to adopt.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Nastco
You know you are called to adopt when God places it on your heart. It is within you—a calling that you cannot silence. It might be a whisper to your soul, like in my case, or someone else’s testimony of their adoption story that tugs on your heart, and instantly you know that you are to take the journey of adoption, too. It does not have to be a dramatic moment, but it is this sense that you are missing someone you don’t even know. It is akin to the longing I had when I was anxious and expecting to meet my new child.
For me, years earlier, it was placed on my heart that one day I wanted to help one child. Difficult pregnancies and a miscarriage confirmed that I needed to consider adoption for any other children we would add to our family. Then that day, when God whispered to my soul, I knew it was time to move forward in this calling. The innate desire to adopt my son was growing in my heart, just like expecting in natural birth. And where God guides, God provides.
Before too long, our son was referred to us. He needed care, and my soul instantly wished I could hold him in my arms. But the path to adoption was challenging. Nonetheless, I filled out the paperwork as fast as I could and jumped through every hoop before me, complete with driving paperwork to an office that had not opened my mail that I had overnighted to them weeks before. I was desperate to get to my son. And nine months later (slightly ironic), I met him for the first time.
My four children traveled with us for that adventure that I dubbed “The Rushin’ Americans Go to Russia.” We packed totes full of gifts to the orphanage and as any homeschool mom would do, I made notebooks where we could learn about Russia and learn the language (barely).
As we prepared to travel, God also prepared our hearts. We were able to see a video and pictures of him and longed for the day when we could meet him.
God’s preparation is so necessary. The time it takes to complete an adoption and the expenses of the adoption are challenging, but in that process, God is working. If the adoption were to be instantaneous, we would miss this preparation. In the waiting for biological and adoptive children, God is preparing us to be parents.
Every adoption story is unique, just as every birth story is. The miracle of adoption is just as miraculous as childbirth. How God connects two souls that were strangers before in a familial bond is a work of His Spirit, but it is not without challenge.
That first day I met our son, my heart melted. He had just had chickenpox and had blue dots all over his face. He had lazy eyes and a sweet smile. As we fed him goldfish and gave him gifts that we brought to him, I knew he was our son. This beginning of a bond, this ache in our soul, serves to keep us in pursuit of our goal. When the hurdles and obstacles get in the way, we rely on what God has shown us to motivate us to not give up.
It was difficult to see our son and painful to see him remaining in an orphanage where we noticed fear in his eyes. But God made a way and positioned us to be able to see him more.
We just “so happened” to attend a Baptist church in Moscow and asked if there was the possibility of staying with a family to make it less costly for our next trip, in exchange for me making meals, cleaning, and buying groceries. It was far less expensive than paying for a hotel every night at $400 a night. And God provided. Divine providence had led us and positioned us to be at a church where we would find a host family and a church that happened to have mission opportunities to orphanages in the area. That first Sunday we attended, someone got up and said they were serving in an orphanage that weekend and looking for volunteers. It was my son’s orphanage!!!
As we traveled to serve at my son’s orphanage, we were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at our son’s living situation that we never would have had. God opened a door for us to stay in a district that felt a little more like home, and as we waited, we were able to combine our second and third trips into one and get our son sooner than anticipated.
Photo Credit: ©RNS/Vlad Vasnetsov/Pixabay/Creative Commons
God goes before us. Yes, there will be difficulties and challenges that sometimes seem insurmountable. But just as natural childbirth has challenges, so does adoption. Knowing that God goes before us helps us never give up. When we were in Russia and when we were home, there were several problems that we encountered, but then there were problems encountered in natural birth, as well. God went before us on every challenge and made a way for us to complete the adoption. God opens doors we cannot open. And it might just be that He opens doors for others, too. While we were in Russia, a friend of the host family watched us adopt and chose to do the same.
Adoption is not easy, and sometimes bonding can be difficult. God’s word is an encouragement when we wonder if we are called to adopt or not.
Here are five verses that helped me in my calling to adopt:
We who are in Christ were also adopted, and that process was not easy for us, or for our Savior. “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:5, ESV).
God’s grace is enough and will meet us at every moment in our adoption journey. We can know that we are doing His will by looking after orphans in their distress. “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you” (James 1:27, NLT).
Knowing that God did not leave us as orphans prompts my heart to do the same. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18, ESV).
God calls the work of adoption, a good work. When we rescue a child, we are doing His will. “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause” (Isaiah 1:17, ESV).
Jesus cared for children and asks us to do the same. What we do for the least of these, we do for Him. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me” (Matthew 18:5).
If you have adoption in your heart, pray and ask God to confirm it. He who calls you will also enable you to finish that work.